Interlocking transmission mechanism.



PATENTED DEC. s, 1 907.

, J. HJLAIRD. INTERLooK-ING TRANSMISSION MEGHANISM.

APPLIUATIOH Hmm PEB. 18, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

lll/M www Mmmm.

S vPAIBIIIIIIIIDB0. S, 1907. I. II. LAIRD. INIESLOGIII'NC- TRANSMISSION MBGIIANISM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18, 1907.

` A Tram/,5m

1 lf I @FETES JOHN 'HARVEY LAIRD, 0F LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA.`

INTERLOGKING TRANSMISSION' MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent..

` `Patented Dec. 3, 1 907.

Application filed February 18. 1907. Serial No. 357.945f

To all uiho'm lt-frnafy concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HARVEY LAIRD,

Lexington, in the county of Rockbridge and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Interlocking Transmission.Mechanism for Automobiles, of which the following specieation. j

This'inventio'n has reference to improvements in interlocking transmission meehan ism for automobiles, and its object is to provide a simple and com act device whereby the driver of an automo ile may quickly and positively changeA the 4speed and power through wide ranges, or reverse the direction isa of the driving wheels without reversing the i motor, or maypif desired, directly couple the motor to the driving wheels, at the same l time positively locking the transmission vgear in the desired adjusted position, such lock being positive against accidental displacement. To this end, the inventlon consists 1n a -two-part drive shaft, one part receiving rectly driven portion of the. shaft is provided with a-series of gear wheels of different diam'- eters and a clutch by which it may, when de'- 4sired, be directly coupled to the wheel driving end of thel shaft'. Adjacent tothe power shaft is arranged another or countersh'aft containing suitable gear wheels arranged for engagement wlth the gear wheels on the power shaft, and this countershaft also has l other gearing by means of which the direction of rotation may be reversed. vIn connection with the gearing carried upon the countershaft there is provided a means for shifting each individual gear independently into and out of engagement with'the gearing upon the power shaft, and provision is made whereby the shifting mechanism is positivelyY locked in both the geared position and the out of gear position so that there can be no danger of the gearing accidentally disengagl ing or beinglcoupled up in 'a manner not designed by t e operator. All the mechanism Vis ldil'ei'lly 'under the control of' the driver of the automobile through lever connectionsl of theordinary type adjacent to the drivers seat.

The invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description taken.

in connection with' the accompanying draw; ange formlng part of this specification, in which,

'. yFigure 1 is a longitudinal section through the transmission gear box, withsome parts. a citizen of the United States, residing at shown in elevation; Fig. 2 is a section on the l line at-af of Fig. 1, looking toward the left hand of'said figure; Fig. 3 is a section on the line y-y of Fig. 1, looking toward the right j of said figure; andFig.. 4 is a longitudinal section of a portion of the shifting mechanism shown in Fig. 1 but in a different phase of operation.

a main driving shaft 1 which has the end remote from the motor provided with a. longitudinal axial socket? in which is journaled one end of a shaft 3, through. which latter power is conveyed to the drive wheels of the i automobilein the ordinary manner. The driving motor, supporting wheels and body l of the automobile have been omitted from the drawings for the sake of clearness of illustration, but it will be understood that thel transmission gearforming the subject of the present invention is applicable to any suit able type of commercial formel' automobile.

able casing 4 near the lower end thereof, and

properly house the various parts of the transmlssi'on gear to be hereinafter described. Upon the socketed end of the shaft 1 are a number of gear wheels of different diameters, there being sl )wn in the drawing four such gear wheels 5, (5, 7 and 8; but it will be understood, ofcourse, that this number and the various relations of the gears to each other as to size may be changed as'desired. Parallel with the shaft 1 and tershaft 9 upon which are placed a number of gearwhcels of different diameters, there being shown in the drawings four such gear wheels 11, 12, 13 and 14. 4AThe gear Wheels 5 6, Fx'and 8 are fast upon the shaft 1, being fixed thereon lagainst any movement except y the movement imparted thereto by the rotaq tion Vof the shaft. l 125 and 14 are secured to the shaft 9 by means of a spline 15 and these gear wheels, while j constrained to rotate with the shaft 9 bej canse of the spline 15, may be moved longij tudinall with relation to Asaid shaft.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown y suitably journalcd in the casing. 4 is a counl The shafts 1 and 3 extend through a suit Y i thiscasing is of such size and shape as to The gear wheels 11, 12, l

The s iaft 9 extends beyond the end of the shaft 1`toa journal bearing in the other end I l 0 shaft 9 carries two gear wheels 16 and 17,

vthe shaft 1 to the shaft dinal movement andfast thereon for rotation With the shaft. The :gear Wheel 17 is in mesh With-a normallyidle' gear 18 inounted upon a stud 19 fast in the end of the casing 4. f

Mounted upon the shaft 3 Within thecasing there is a gear .Wheel 20 constrained -to rotate with said shaft by means of a spline 21 and free to move longitudinallyon said* along. the shaft 3 until the clutch member 22.

is in engagement with the clutch member 23, then the shaft 1 is in direct connection with the shaft 3 through the `two clutch members.

and the spline 21, so that these'two shafts Will then rotate synchronously and power will he transmitted directly from the motor to the drive Wheels. When the parts are in this position the shafts are coupled for direct drive.

The meshwlth the gear wheel 16, inwhich case powerY transmitted to the countershaft 9 will be transmitted by means of the gear wheels 16 and 20 to the driven shaft 35 and by it'to the Wheels, and it is through this connection that varying speeds from the drive shaft 1 to the shaft 9,are transmitted to the shaft 3, the arrangement 4if gears being such that under the condition named the rotation of the shaft 3 Will be in the same direction as that ofthe shaft 1. When it is desired, however, to reverse the direction of rotation of the shaft 3, the Igear Wheel 20 is'shifted still further to the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, until it engages the idler gear 18 When, as will he readily understood, the

rotation of the shaft 3 will be in op osite to that of the shaft 1.

n order to transmit varying speeds from 9,- the gear Wheels 11, 12, 13 and 14 may be coupled up to the gear wheels 5, 6, 7 and 8. For instance, the gear Wheel 11 may be coupled into mesh with the gear wheel 5 when, because the gear wheel 5`1s small and the gear Wheel 11 is large, the s eed of the shaft 9 will be correspondingly ess than that ofthe shaft 1, but t e power transmitted to the shaft 3 through the gear Wheels 16 vand 20, or through the a vdirection reversing gear, as the case may be, will be largely augmented. If, however, it be desired to largely increase the speed of the l automobile, -the gear Wheel 14 may be cou led into mesh with the gear WheelS, in W ich case the speed of the shaft 9 Will bey con siderably greater than that of the shaft 1` and thel automobile will therefore be driven at its highest speed, since in the particular combination referred to the gear Wheelsl 14 vand 8 represent the highest-speed gear progear Wheel 20 can be shifted into' vided. The other two gears represent inter- 'mediate'speeds andthe gearsmli and 7 may be of" the same diameter, `so that While direct coupling ofthe shafts 1 andv 3 will give direct drive in one direction, "the coupling of the shaft 3 to the shaft 1 through the gears 7 and 13- or through'the reversing gear will give the same speed in the reverse direction.

'l'ne invention, it will be understood, is not limited. `to the particular arrangement of gears thus far shown and described but contemplates the use of adirect drivehQa high speed gear, alow speedgear and such interi mediate speed gears `as maybe desired,.to n

gcther with means for drivingthe automooile in either direction at any of the speeds provided for.

In order to providvefor the various adjust-l ments already spoken of kand to` lock the` parts in the adjusted position, the invention contemplates the use of mechanism which I will now proceed to describe. the top of the casing 4 is a longitudinally arranged U-shaped frame 24 disposed at one side of the vertical plane cutting the shafts 1 and 9. Within this frame is. housed an elongated vblock 25, near the upper edge of which Secured on and extending nearly throughout its length there is alongitudinal groove 26 formed in the. face of the block 2,5 toward the vertical plane of the shafts 1 and A9, and at a point in the block about mid ay of its length and j formed in the bottom w all of the groove 26 there is a notch or depression 27 having inclined vwalls. At a point coincident n ith this notch and rising from the face' of vthe blocl 25 above the groove 26 are t o spaced vertical lugs 28h28- flanking a recess 29 formed in the face of the block 25 at this point. The recess 29 'and the twol lugs 28 form a guideway fora vertically sliding bar 30, the lower end of which is movable to but not into the notch 27A andthe upper end of which is provided with allaterally extending pin 31 entering a longitudinal slot 32 in a plate 33 housed in ank overhanging bracket 34 fast on top of theframe 2,-1. The overhang of the bracket 34 is fast-upon a longitudinally extended fixed'fblock v35 'having one portion adjacent to the bar 30and another portion adjacent to but spaced from thexblock 25, and the lowerend of the block 35 is fast to but spaced from the llower edge of theA fran1e'24 by rigid spacing.links 36 suitably fastened to bothparts.

The plate 33 bearsagainst another plate 37 i alsohoused )vithin the bracket 3.4 .and capable of longitudinal movement therein.V This plate 37` has at certain intervals angular slots 38, each terminating longitudinally ar.

rranged extensions 39. .".lu-o of these slots 38 are engaged by pins 40` fast on the plate 33 and the other "slot 38, located near the left handehd of the ,plate37, which end is ahout coincident with the left-hand end of the'easn vals for a purpose which willpresently apannular grooves 53 formedY in the hubs 49.'

' angle projecting downw ard and the side faces approaching this angle in the form ofa re- 27 under any one of the lugs 54 by means of a on the respective gears 11, 12, 13 and 14.

v45, 46 and 47 terminate in lateral extensions notch 27 when the block 25 is moved longitudinally with the block 25 because of the ing 4 as viewed in Fig. 1, is engaged by a pin 41 on the upper end of a vertical. bar 42 to be l hereinafter described. Mountedl upon fxed'studs 43 secured in the block 35 and projecting into the space between the latter and Athe corresponding face of the elongated block 25 are bell-crank levers 44, 45, 46 and 47, having their longer arms projecting downward andterminatmg in forked ends 48 straddling hubs 49 formed The'inner ends of the studs 43 project into the groove.. or recess 26 andthere rind-sup'- port in a strip 65 seated in said groove or recess 26 and Serving to maintain thesliding block 25 securely irvits seat in the frame 24. This strip 65 has slots 66 at suitable interpear.' `The forked ends of the arms of the levers 44, 45, 46 and 47 have at their extremities curved slots 50 receiving trunnions -51 projecting radially from rings 52 seated in The shorter arms of the bell-'crank levers 44,

or heads 54 approximatelyT triangular in cross sectlon with rounded. angles. and one verse curve. The lugs or heads 54 enter slots 66 in the strip 65 seated in the groove 26 andare so shaped as to readily pass into' the dinally as will hereinafter appear. This block 25 is moved longitudinally through a distance sufficiently great to bring the notch link 55 connecting the block 25 to a suitable operating mechanism, ,not shown, but n hichmay be of ordinary construction and located upon the body of the automobile within easy reach of the driver. The plate 37 is moved longitudinally? within the bracket 34 by means ofa link 56also leading to a suitable operating mechanism upon the body of theI automobile within easy reach of the driver. The plate 33 has its pins 40 engaged by the inclined slots 38 when the plate 37 is shifted in the proper direction, and` the bar. 30, through the pin 31, participates .in this movem'ent. The. bar 30 may be,4 moved, longitu- Slot 32.

Let it be assumed that the gears 7 .and 13 are in mesh, as shown in Fig. 1, and that it is desirable to increase the speed of the machine by couplingithegears 8 and 14. The plate 37 ismoved toward the le'ft as viewed in Fig. 1, andthe inclined slots 38 engage the pins 40on the plate 33 and the latter is caused to move upward. carrying with it the bar`30away from the lug 54 wit the top of which it was in engagement, as V showlin Fi 1. The block 25 is then! as shown in Fig. 4. This movement has been participated in by the bar30 but not by the plate 33 since the pin 31 on the bar 30 has been free to move longitudinally in the slot 32 in the plate 33. -37 is moved toward'the right as viewed in Fig. 1 and the inclined slots 38 cause the plate 33` to be moved downward, thus depressing the bar 30 until it strikesthe upper face of the lug 54 and causes the bellcrank lever 47 to rock on its pivot until the lug 54 is seated in the notch 27. This operation Now the plate causes the lower 'or forked end of the belle crank lever 47 to move toward the left as viewed in Fig. 1 until the gear 14 has come into mesh with the vgear 8. When the block `moved toward the right .as viewed in Fig. 1 and the gear 13 was moved out of mesh with the gear 7. A similar movementv of the parts will take'place whenever theI block 25 is moved to bring the notch 27 beneath any particular one of the lu s 54.

30 is elevated and the' block 25 is moved "longitudinally the bar 30 cannot again be depressed until this bar and the notch 27 have been moved coincident with .a slot 66' in the strip 65, in which slot there is confined one of the heads 54. This construction, therefore, forms also a ositive'lock for the plate 37 except When't e parts are in ositionto permit the actuation of one o, thef bell-crank levers. It will be apparent that with this construction it is impossible to bring more than one pair of gear wheels into mesh at any one time, and when an attempt is made to change the gears those wheels already in mesh must of necessity be moved out of gear before another 'pair can be put into operative relation.

Returning now to the' bar 42 be sup orted bybei tudina slots 57 stradd 'ng the shafts 1 and 9, which, therefore, willform supporting guides for the bar, or this bar may be appropriately 'bent to miss the shafts 1 and 19 and bersuitably su ported by the end-'of the: casing. Along t e'bottom of thecasing there is fa longitudinally slidi bar 58 having an upright arm 59 with a orked end 60 seated 1n a groove 61 formed inthe hub of thegear wheel 20 between the latter andthe clutch vmember 22. The bar 58 is provided `with two notches 62-63 arranged in the. path vof It will be observed t at whenever-the bar l this bar may l provided with longithe lower end'of thev vertically.sliding`v bar 42, and this bar 42 when engaging one or the other ofthe notches 62 or`63 serves to. lock. `the bar 58 against longitudinal movement.

-movedtowar the right until the notch 27l is l' The bar 58 is connected to suitable'operating 130 yin'engageinentwith the notch 62 the gear l.wheelsl and 20 are 'in engagement and are ,therelocked in the appropriate directionthe correspond-- Now, by moving' the'plate 3 7 ing'dnclined slot 3 8 will lift the bar .42 out Aot' the notch' 621and ,the slidingbar-S may be nioved untilthe gear 20 is brought into mesh :with thegear. 18, ien-Which position thebar v`14:2 `maybeagain dropped 'and engage the .further longitudinalmovement,:or the bar -58 may be moved touf'ard the rightof Fig. 1

--. until thefclutch members are in engagement,

ivhenthebarmay be dropped behind the iend-lof.- the bar 58 and vthus .lock thev same 'lL-against longitudinall movement.

l The bar 58A'inaybesuitably guidedl in the bottom of f thecasing,byrlongitudinal ribs 6471er in any other desiredway.-v f f' n :Itispossiblewiththis system of gearing to .Ymultiplythenumber.. of speeds almost indefinitely.' -For instance, Y should another geargrwheel be mounted upon theshaft 3 and beconnectedL tothe gear wheel 20 to movev 'l .flongitudinally vtherewithjandanother gear `wheel besmounted on lthe shaft Qfandxed `thereon and the properspace relation'be observedhetween the various gears,` these two V =pairs,vofagearsfwill double .thev speed relation i i -Whiehinaybe obtainedfronishaftlto shaft 3 and any other desiredcombination of gears l gtion of -gear .-Wheels mounted uponthe' shafts may be: -us'ed vat; Ythis-point". Also; any relal andl9 forfj-jointoperation.other .than the Y 'particularCOmbinationshownmay be emfplojyeth;andthistwill give :still other varia'- g `ventionis not c oniined,v toyany particular ..numberor'rel'atlon ofy geariwheels upon the Shafts 1-, 3 and 9.

.thegear wheels andtheir Ashafts are either vflat-pieces of metalor pieces :that are easily' forged 'ntooshapa and, consequently," the :Whole structureimay'be jmade at littler ex pense and the same time 'may be Y made of .great s`tgrength,vj sothat danger of ,breakage )f repairs.V is reducedy to a.

i ower-sha t, ad-riyen-shaft, a gearconnection 1 etwee'nf the two shaftsanehulmg gearm'heels ablegear wheely and ai coirnnon` operating l'movable into andgout of mesh Awithother gaan Vwheels,- shifting? devices for ea-ch; :mo-v-k hinechanisinf'forfeach ofthe shifting devices vacting on any one of the shifting mechanisms in any order to the exclusion of all the other shifting mechanisms.

tions oflspeedna; For these-reasons,A my in-` I 2. In a power mechanism, a number of' power transmission elements, other power transmission elements movable into and outv of gear with the frstmamed power'transmission elements, a' shifting mechanismv therefor,A a posi-tive lock for holding all: the

movableelements out of gear, means for un` locking any one of the movable elements in any o rder without affecting an f of theother movable elements', and means for effecting the movement of the unlocked element yto operative position, also without affectingv any of the other movable elements.

.3. In 'a power transmission mechanism a number of power transmission elements, other power transmission elements movable into and out of gear with the -iirst-name'd power transmission elements,- a shifting mechanism therefor comprisin bell-crankV levers engaging thel movable e ements and provided with heads or lugs, a sliding bar' havingl a longitudinal seat for'all the-heads or lugs onthe bell-crank levers andhold ing them against movement,vwhich seat has a notch or depressionymeans for moving'the sliding bar to bring the notchojr deprfs sion under any one ofthe lugs, and means for moving the head orlug into the notch or depression and thereby causing the bell'- erank lever to move about its pivot to actuate the movable element engaged thereby.

4. In a ower transmission mechanism a number o power transi'nission elements, other power transmission elements movable into and out of gear with 'the-rstnamed power transmission elements,v a shifting mechanism therefor comprising bellerank levers engaging the movable elements and provided With heads or lugs,`a sliding bar having a longitudinal seat for all the heads or' lugs on the bell-crank levers and holding'them againstmovement, which seat has a notch or depresslon, means for moving .the sliding barto bring the notch or depression under any one of the lugs,a bar coincident with said'- notch or depression, and meansior, actuatingsaid bar to force the head or lug on a bellcrank lever into Said notch or depression.

5. In a ower transmission mechanism a number otpower transmission elements, other power `transmission elements 7movable into and lout of geary with the yfirst-named power transmissionelements, a shifti mechanism therefor com rising bell-.crank lea vers lengaging the movable elements and pro-A vided ,witht heads or. lugs, a sliding-'bar having alo'ngitudinalf-seat'or fall the heads or lugs onf the vbell-.crank levers and .holding themI 1 againstmovement,` saidssea't having a' notch' .or. depression, bar to bring meanstfor moving". fthe! sliding -tlie notch or depression 1 under .any one yofthe lugs, abar coincidentwith-the:

notch or depression, a sliding plate engaging the bar, and 'a longitudinally movable plate having inclined slots engaging the, irst-- named plate .for causing it to move in a direction to actuate thebar coincident with the notch in a direction to or from said notch.

(i. In a power transmission mechanism, a shifting mechanism comprising a series of bell-crank levers having heads or lugs formed on the ends of one of their arms, a longitudinallv movable bar having a groove receiving all the headsA or lugs on all the, bell-crank levers and provided with a notch in the groove permitting the movement of the bell-crank levers about their pivots, another bar carried b v said [irst-named bar and movable across the groove therein coincident with the notch in said groove, a longitudinally mo 'able plate parallel with the longitudinally movablebar and having inclined grooves, and another plate having pinsenga-ged in said inclined grooves and provided with a longitudinal. slot or groove engaging. a pin on the bar movable across the longitudinally movable bar.

T. ln a power transmission mechanism, a power shalt, a driven shalt, inicrmmliategaringlbetween,said shafts, a gear wheel carried u on the driven shalt` a shifting bar a connecten thermvith, another shifting bar havlng an melmed slot and movable parallel i S. A power transmission mechanism for automobiles comprising a driving shaft, al

driven shaft, clutch members carried by the two shafts, intermediate gearing including fixedV and movable gear wheels and an intermediate shaft upon which the movable gea-r wheels are mounted, a vshifting mechanism forthe movable gear wheels on the intermediate shaft, a lock for releasing but one gear wheel at a time to the exclusion of all the others, a movablegear wheel mounted on the driven shaft and carrying the movable member of the clutch, a shifting mechanism "for thejlast-,named gear Wheel and clutch.

member, 'and a lock for this last-named shifting mechanism.

` In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my` own, ,I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN HARVEY LAIRD.

Witnesses R. RAGLAND, l. A. Ilinv'r. 

